Brand Guidelines Template: A Fill-In Version for Small Teams, With a Worked Example

Search for a brand guidelines template and most of the first page is design files. When we looked in November 2026, the top result had 145 pages for InDesign, Illustrator and Figma, and another further down had 38. They look great. They also assume you have a designer to fill them in and plenty of logo rules to show.

A small team has a simpler problem. You need to write down how the business sounds, what it promises and which logo file to use, in a document people will open. This template does that in eight sections. Each one gives you the questions to answer, and a made-up bookkeeping firm answers them so you can see what a finished version looks like.

Our guide to brand consistency says long guidelines tend to sit unread, and that a one-page sheet should do the daily work. That still holds. This is the fuller document behind the sheet: you write it to make the decisions, and people come back to it when the sheet doesn't answer their question.

What are brand guidelines?

Brand guidelines are the written rules for how your business looks and sounds, so that anyone who makes something for you, a person or an AI tool, produces work that reads as one company. A good test is whether someone new can apply them without asking you follow-up questions.

You'll also see them called a style guide or a brand book. A brand style guide template or a brand book template often leans towards visuals, while a content style guide covers writing. A small business only needs one document, so put both in it.

What to include in brand guidelines

Eight sections are enough for a small team:

The design templates spend most of their pages on section 6. On a small team the trouble usually starts in sections 2, 4 and 5, so start there.

The brand guidelines template, section by section

Copy the questions into a shared doc and answer them in plain sentences. The example answers come from a made-up bookkeeping firm that works with small shops.

1. Who we are

Keep this short enough to say out loud.

2. Voice

Your brand voice guidelines are the part writers will use most. Pick three words for how you sound. Then give each word a line that fits and a line that doesn't, because "calm" means different things to different writers until they can read what you mean.

Add links to three pieces that already sound right: your best post, email and page. If you're starting from nothing, our guide to defining your brand voice goes deeper, and these brand voice examples show what other companies do.

3. Tone by channel

Your voice stays the same and your tone moves. Write one row for each channel or situation you deal with. The tone of voice guide has more on how this works.

4. Words

5. Promises and claims

This section stops expensive mistakes. A new writer or an AI tool will happily promise something you can't deliver, so spell out what's allowed.

6. Visuals

A designer can make this section look better, but half a page of plain notes does the job. The important part is that everyone can find the current files.

7. AI tools

An AI tool fills in anything you leave out with its own default style, so decide what it gets. Our guide on how to train AI on your brand voice walks through the setup, and these seven edits for AI-generated content help with the read-through.

8. Owner

The finished example on one page

Take sections 1, 2, 4 and 5, cut them to the shortest version that still works, and you have the sheet. Everyone who writes for you gets it on their first day, and the full document stays in the folder for the harder questions.

Brand guidelines examples worth reading

Some large companies publish theirs, and each of these is useful for something different. They're far longer than yours needs to be, so borrow the structure and skip the length.

Mailchimp's Content Style Guide is the one to read for writing. It has a section on voice and tone, a word list, and separate sections on email newsletters and social media.

Dropbox's brand guidelines put voice and tone next to logo, typography, colour, imagery and motion, so you can see words and visuals living in one place.

LinkedIn's brand guidelines are written for people outside the company who want to use its name and logo. Look at these once partners or resellers start using yours.

Monzo's tone of voice page comes from a bank, so it's worth a look if your field tends to sound stiff.

How to fill it in without losing a week

1. If your business has been around for a while, run a one-afternoon brand audit first. It shows you what you already do, which is easier to write down than to invent.
2. Collect three pieces that sound right, and work out your three voice words from them.
3. Draft sections 1, 2, 4 and 5 in one sitting. A rough version is fine.
4. Test it. Give the draft to someone new, or to an AI tool, and ask for a short post. Wherever the result sounds wrong, a rule is missing or too vague.
5. Add sections 3, 6, 7 and 8.
6. Cut the one-page sheet and send it to everyone who writes for you.

Where software fits

A document can't read a post before it goes out. Someone has to check the work against it, and that gets harder as the number of channels and writers grows.

Savra is built for that reading. It keeps your rules on file and checks every post, email and reply against them before it goes out. To see where you stand before you write anything, run the free audit. It reads your website and quotes back the lines that drift. It doesn't read your social posts or emails, so check those by hand.

Frequently asked questions

What are brand guidelines?

Brand guidelines are the written rules for how your business looks and sounds, so that anyone who makes something for you, a person or an AI tool, produces work that reads as one company.

What should be included in brand guidelines?

For a small team, eight sections: who you are, your voice, tone by channel, the words you use and avoid, your promises and claims, your visuals, rules for AI tools, and who owns the document.

How long should brand guidelines be?

There's no fixed length. A small business can cover all eight sections in a few pages, then keep a one-page version for daily use. If nobody can find the answer they need in a minute or two, the document is too long.

Is a brand style guide different from brand guidelines?

The names overlap and most people use them to mean the same thing. Some companies keep a visual style guide and a separate content style guide. A small business only needs one document that covers both.

Do I need a designer to fill in a brand guidelines template?

No. Most of this template is writing, and the founder or whoever writes the most can fill it in. A designer helps with the logo files, colours and fonts in the visuals section, but half a page of plain notes works if you don't have one.

Can AI write my brand guidelines?

An AI tool can draft a first version from your best writing, and that can save time. The decisions still have to come from you, especially what you promise, what you never claim and who has the final say.